I started homeschooling in the middle of my son's 7th grade year; now he is in 8th grade and I'm stressing a little about starting high school (he says he never wants to go back to our public school again).

Along with homeschooling, I help take care of my elderly grandfather who is dying of cancer and help out a friend frequently with her special needs child who will do anything to get out of school, including getting suspended !

To relax I read, veg on the TV, and just started doing the crossword and sudoku puzzles in the paper every day.

I'm concerned about my son's ability to learn independently. The only reason he likes homeschooling is because he gets to interact so much with me. I'm wanting him to begin taking responsibility for his own learning instead of relying on me to do things for him to facilitate his learning. We have practiced the skills but he isn't applying them. It's like practicing those skills was just an assignment he had to do. He claims he can't find the main point, or write a paragraph (a leftover attitude from public school), and gets sleepy when he has to read.

I'll be looking in the forums for advice, and perhaps someone will respond to this.

Although my son is only five and your son is alot older I can tell that we have some similiar problems my son too is becoming way too dependant on me to teach him certain things. I find him asking me if what he did was right on every question he answers before he'll go onto the next one. Now granted I know he's only five and in kindergarten but if I give him something really simple that I know he knows how to do just to test him he'll do the same thing. I love to homeschool my son also. I just hope that he doesn't become entirely dependant on me. You just want your children to grow up and be able to learn themselves without having to wonder what would mom say or think or do?? lol...

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 5:45 pm Post subject: Some children start out having little or no interest in...

Well, what are you having him read? Some children start out having little or no interest in reading, and assuming your son has at least basic reading / writing skills, what you need to do is give him things to read that he would find enjoyable. For instance, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Tales of Narnia, Cheaper by the Dozen, etc. Once he discovers that reading is fun, he will read more, and when he reads more, it will become easier and easier to comprehend material and remember it.

You might also try bookmarking some news sites and having him write a brief summary (one or two lines per) of whatever recent news stories happen to strike his interest. Even he copies much of the material verbatim, he won't be able to help absorbing a lot of general knowledge.

And if all else fails, and you have to resort to involuntary rather than voluntary measures, you can give him a choice between reading several chapters per day out loud, or writing an adequate summary of the chapters. He'll probably find the latter a lot less work, especially after he has a lot of practice, but if it turns out he's lacking basic verbal skills and really can't write a proper summary, reading the material out loud will build his grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation._________________Homeschool Articles - Events - Support Groups